1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an information announcing apparatus, an information announcing terminal device, and a method of controlling the information announcing apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to an information announcing apparatus, an information announcing terminal device, and a method of controlling the information announcing apparatus, that can detect and recognize a sound signal and that can notify a user of the information based on the recognition.
2. Description of Related Art
Voice recognition equipment is known in which a voice signal is detected, analyzed, and matched with one of recorded voice patterns. Then, the matching pattern is retrieved to identify the voice signal. Thus, the known voice recognition equipment detects from among recorded voice patterns a corresponding voice, and displays the kind and contents of the voice signal.
The following describes a general configuration of the known voice recognition equipment with reference to FIG. 3. As shown, a voice input block 110 detects a voice signal and converts the same into an electrical signal, which is then supplied to a voice analyzing block 120. The voice analyzing block 120 analyzes the frequency of the electrical signal, and supplies the analyzed results to a characteristic data extracting block 130. The characteristic data extracting block 130 extracts characteristic data of the frequency-analyzed voice signal, and supplies the extracted characteristic data to a characteristic data matching block 140. The characteristic data matching block 140 compares the extracted characteristic data with each of plural voice patterns stored in a characteristic data memory block 150 to retrieve a matching voice pattern.
Consequently, in response to the matching voice pattern stored in the characteristic data memory block 150, an information output block 170 reads output information associated to the corresponding voice characteristic pattern from an information memory block 160 which stores the output information for use by the user to evaluate and respond to the voice signal. Then, the information output block 170 produces the output information on a screen display or in the form of audio announcement.
However, in the conventional voice recognition equipment, the characteristic data memory block 150 only stores pre-selected characteristic patterns in advance. Therefore, new voice patterns cannot be stored after factory shipment. This disables the conventional voice recognition equipment to notify the user of the detection of a new voice signal that is not stored in the characteristic data memory block 150.
An aid device for notifying auditory handicapped persons of the detection of an input voice signal by media other than audio is disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 7-93669. With the disclosed device, if an alarm siren of an ambulance generated from a loudspeaker of a television set is incidentally picked up, the false alarm siren is erroneously recognized as a real alarm sound, thereby notifying the auditory handicapped person of the false information or message.
The conventional voice recognition equipment is constructed so that the voice input block and the information output block cannot be arranged at widely spaced locations. This construction limits the voice detecting range. In addition, the conventional equipment cannot allocate a source point of a voice signal. Consequently, the conventional equipment cannot provide information sufficient for the aid of auditory handicapped persons.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an information announcing apparatus, an information announcing remote terminal, and a method of controlling the information announcing apparatus, to allow the user to register any desired sounds and prevent a false announcement caused by an artificial sound from a device such as a television set.
In a first aspect of the invention, an information apparatus is constructed for notifying output information to a remote terminal in response to an input signal of a sound. The information apparatus is comprised of a first memory block that stores characteristic data representing characteristics of various sounds, a second memory block that stores various items of output information corresponding to the characteristic data of the various sounds such that each item of the output information is associated with each sound, an input device that collects a sound to provide an input signal of the collected sound, an analyzer device that extracts characteristic data from the input signal of the collected sound, a controller device that operates according to the extracted characteristic data for addressing the first memory block and the second memory block to identify the item of the output information corresponding to the collected sound, and a transmitter device that transmits the identified item of the output information to the remote terminal, wherein a new sound and a corresponding item of output information can be registered to update the first memory block and the second memory block such that the analyzer device extracts new characteristic data from the new sound, and the controller device registers the extracted new characteristic data into the first memory block and registers the corresponding item of the output information into the second memory block.
In a second aspect of the invention, an information apparatus is constructed for notifying output information to a remote terminal in response to an input signal of a sound. The information apparatus is comprised of a first memory block that stores characteristic data representing characteristics of various sounds, a second memory block that stores various items of output information corresponding to the characteristic data of the various sounds such that each item of the output information is associated with each sound, a plurality of input devices that are spatially distributed to collect a sound from a source location, and that respectively provide input signals of the same sound, a detector device that processes the input signals provided from the spatially distributed input devices to detect the source location of the sound, an analyzer device that extracts characteristic data from at least one of the input signals of the collected sound, a controller device that operates according to the extracted characteristic data for addressing the first memory block and the second memory block to identity the item of the output information corresponding to the collected sound, and a transmitter device that transmits the identified item of the output information to the remote terminal together with the detected source location of the sound. Preferably, the information apparatus further comprises a canceler device that checks whether the output information associated with the sound is true or false according to the source location of the sound, and that cancels transmission of the output information if the output information is false.
In a specific form, the analyzer device analyzes a frequency spectrum of the sound to extract therefrom a characteristic pattern, which is stored as the characteristic data in the first memory block, and the controller device uses the characteristic pattern as an index to identity the item of the output information corresponding to the sound.
The inventive remote terminal for use in combination with the inventive information apparatus of the first aspect is comprised of a receiver device that receives the output information transmitted from the information apparatus, a stimulator device that is activated when the output information is received by the receiver device for physically stimulating a user of the remote terminal to draw attention of the user to the output information, a display device that displays the received output information such that the stimulated user can readily read the output information, a commander device that is operated by the user when a new sound is to be registered for inputting a command effective to activate the analyzer device of the information apparatus to extract the characteristic data from the new sound and to enable the controller device of the information apparatus to register the characteristic data together with the corresponding item of the output information, and a transmitter device that transmits the inputted command to the information apparatus.
The inventive remote terminal for use in combination with the inventive information apparatus of the second aspect is comprised of a receiver device that receives the output information transmitted from the information apparatus, a stimulator device that is activated when the output information is received by the receiver device for physically stimulating a user of the remote terminal to draw attention of the user to the output information, and a display device that displays the received output information such that the stimulated user can readily read the output information.
Further, an inventive informing method is designed for notifying output information to a remote terminal in response to an input signal of a sound. The informing method is comprised of the steps of storing characteristic data representing characteristics of various sounds in a first memory, storing various items of output information corresponding to the characteristic data of the various sounds in a second memory such that each item of the output information is associated with each sound, collecting a sound to provide an input signal of the collected sound, extracting characteristic data from the input signal of the collected sound, addressing the first memory and the second memory based on the extracted characteristic data to identity the item of the output information corresponding to the collected sound, transmitting the identified item of the output information to the remote terminal, and registering a new sound and a corresponding item of output information to update the first memory and the second memory such that new characteristic data is extracted from the new sound and the corresponding item of the output information is determined in association with the new sound, and then the extracted new characteristic data is stored in the first memory while the corresponding item of the output information is stored in the second memory.